Sword and Arrow

Chapter 73

A week later, Aragorn led Beruthiel back to the courtyard behind the Citadel. His crown lay safely atop a bundle of fancy kingly robes back in his office and Beruthiel had on her grey-dappled cloak, the hood up against the biting wind.

"There's a door in the back," Aragorn said. "It isn't locked though, because no one goes up there."

"Great," she said. "You do know that I was fully prepared to pick the lock if it wasn't?"

"Oh, I know," Aragorn said with a sigh. "I don't know why you still bother to carry those picks around. You know that I have the keys to everything, right?"

"Yep," she said cheerfully. "But maybe I'll need to do something without your approval." She wiggled her eyebrows at him and poked him in the side with her elbow.

"That is illegal," Aragorn protested.

"Not if you never know!"

She truly left him at a loss for words, Aragorn thought to himself. Though not always in the best of ways. Sometimes, it was a stupidity kind of loss for words. His finger yet again went to the bare spot on his middle finger, missing the weight of Barahir's Ring.

"See?" Aragorn said. "Unlocked." He pushed the old door in, letting Beruthiel go in front of him. "Now we just have to climb... a lot of stairs."

And indeed, there were a lot of stairs. "Wonderful," Beruthiel groaned. "My legs are going to want to kill me."

"It'll be worth it," Aragorn said. "I promise. You can see everything from up there."

"Everything, you say?"

"Everything. You have to put the emphasis there." He grinned up at her as he followed her up the dusty stairs.

"Everything, you say?" Beruthiel corrected herself. She trailed a finger up the stone wall as she climbed - it came away covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Yes, everything. You can even see the Anduin from there - and I think I saw Druadan Forest the last time I came up here." He brushed a spider off the step with the corner of his foot. It was a rather large spider, Aragorn thought with alarm.

"Hmm," said Beruthiel. "I wonder if I could climb up to the roof. It would be a great place for stargazing, don't you think?"

"It would," Aragorn agreed. His legs were starting to cramp, but he couldn't ever admit that to her, could he? "Just make sure you're careful. I don't know what state this tower is in."

"Oh, quit worrying," Beruthiel said, lightly tapping his shoulder. "If it was in bad condition, it would've been taken down long ago by the Steward or someone, wouldn't it? It's probably fine."

"If you say so." But Aragorn still worried. Maybe Beruthiel was rubbing off on him more than he cared to admit.

🏹👑🗡️

Finally the two emerged from the relative darkness into the bright afternoon sunlight. "Oh, you really can see everything," Beruthiel said as she held up a hand against the sun. "It's beautiful from up here."

From the tower, everything was laid out in front of them like a painting - or maybe a map, drawn on the earth itself. Far away to the East Beruthiel could see the silver bend of the Anduin, winding its way down south where it would meet with the ocean.

"This seems sturdy enough," Beruthiel said, giving one of the posts supporting the ceiling (or what passed as a ceiling) a push. It held well enough - the stone had been mortared long ago by excellent stonesmiths and designed to never crumble or break. Ivy and and honeysuckle vines had climbed up the tower despite the high altitude to which it rose, and they wound around the pillar and hung from the ceiling. The spring air was perfumed by the heady scent of honeysuckle.